Monitor. Ask.

If you're reading my blog and your wife isn't pregnant yet or you're single, then good for you for looking forward!

This is just a short tip for today. 

Last weekend, I saw my very good friend with his wife. Before I continue, let me just say, him and his wife are close friends of mine and we can talk openly with each other. Ok moving on... I was talking with his wife and she was saying that she didn't know she was pregnant until 3 months. I know it happens and there's even a reality tv show for those moms who didn't know they were pregnant until they just gave birth or something. Anyway, it made me think and ask her how come she didn't know or why it took that long. Some women don't feel any morning sickness or whatever but the point of this blog entry is for the fathers or husbands to at the very least check up on your wife. 

My friends wife said she simply didn't know. I asked her then if she didn't find it odd that she's been delayed with her period that long. She smiled. Bingo... At the very least guys, know your wife's menstrual cycle and regardless if you're trying to have a baby or not, try to know if she's regular or not or better, if she's delayed. That way, you know early on if she's pregnant or not so that you can make the changes and adjustments needed for an expecting mom because their needs are different and the earlier those are addressed, the better for the baby-to-be.

Make no mistake. I've been curious enough about pregnancy that i've been asking a lot of people and some moms were very strict about their diet and nutrition along with their lifestyle change and all, But some didn't care at all. Some say that even if they lived the same way like they weren't pregnant, their child turned out ok anyway. But my point is, people don't say that the 1st trimester is the most crucial, for nothing. It's important and it's best to provide the child's nutrients early on into the pregnancy. I've seen a documentary how a certain lack in particular vitamins result in physical defects in babies and things would've been avoided had the moms been giving the needed sustenance for their kids in the womb. 

I'm no expert about all of these but I guess generally, it's just some basic understanding that's needed to be able to share this and I think anyone can simply deduce that the earlier we can provide for the needs, the better for the health and that builds up into a better tomorrow for the kid.

Assignment: Ask your wife :)

Cy

First Trimester Blues

Before I take a look back in detail about what happened since I found out, I'd just like to go over the first trimester in general, the things I've learned, and the changes...

As much as pregnancy is a thing most women go through in life, it is always different from person to person. This doesn't mean that the books that we can find cannot help at all. What I'm trying to say is that it may be different but somehow the same.

Confused?

Case in point: My wife. 

We all know "morning sickness" where we see pregnant women feeling awful vomiting, running to the nearest sink and all. Not Bernice. She has evening sickness and it's really something. 

She's well all throughout the day normally but when the sun sets, let's just say it's a test of patience for both of us :)

She feels nauseous but she never blows at all but she feels so weak and sickly. She's a bit cranky and she really feels bad. She hardly eats anything! I'll explain in detail later.

One funny thing: (Well,before, it wasn't) is that in the middle of anything (even while she's sleeping or half asleep), she'll shout "babe!" like there's a real emergency and when I ask what's wrong, she NEVER answers. It's like nothing happened. It would be nice if she said something but most of the time, it's like she never said anything and it's like I never asked what was wrong hehehe It actually became too frequent I had to tell her to stop it because I wouldn't know which one would be the real emergency if she keeps on doing it.

One thing to note to all you fathers for the first trisem is that women really tend not to eat a lot and lose their appetite in that period. At first I didn't know this and I always somehow tried to force my wife to eat in the form of jokes making her feel guilty that she's now feeding two people and she's not eating anything. I'd like to say that this is normal. Our doctor even mentioned to just accept that our wives are like that for that period. During this time, they will eat veeery little but quite often in very small servings. After that, we'll even be the ones trying to STOP them from eating because her appetite is back by then in full swing! This, my friends, is where I am now. Just a few days ago, my wife suddenly felt better and her appetite's back. It's not only back but she's ALWAYS hungry now. Now I don't know which is worse, the always hungry or the doesn't eat at all hehe

My friend actually mentioned getting his wife to write down all that she wants to eat and he tried to get them so that she can eat whenever she has any cravings. I might just do that soon since I'm getting groceries in a few days. 

Oh yeah, I don't know if it's that too early to tell. But for Bernice, she doesn't have any particular food craving like we see and hear like for example, when wives tend to gravitate toward a particular type of food. For Berns, she craves anything under the sun depending on what she wants at that very moment. For a time, Shakey's Mojos and Dip came popping up but after 2 times, she gave it up and didn't even feel like eating them when I ordered one for her. Maybe soon, she'll be more specific but for now, it's anything goes. 

Good luck to me :)

Cy

The Day We Found Out.

My wife always had her period regularly so it was quite a surprise for her that she was delayed. Having lived in a house full of women (2 sisters, mom, household help), I kinda was familiar with some female issues and knew and read that possible causes of a woman having her period delayed aside from being pregnant are possible stress, change in environment, or something major that happens that her physical condition is affected in some way. With that in mind, we just figured maybe her body was adjusting with the new environment living somewhere else, and possibly the stress from the wedding and all... but no.

My wife was telling me a few days before she took the test that she was concerned already and will take a test over the weekend. I can still remember it. She woke me up on a Sunday to tell me that the pregnancy test she did turned out positive. I am telling you, even if I was only 1/4th awake, it woke me up so fast it really got me up. Unfortunately, to my dismayed wife, I wasn't one of those dads on tv or movies who jumps up and down and shouts "I'm gonna be a daaaaad!" I was far from it. I mentioned that it woke me up but it didn't get me out of bed. I layed there eyes wide open looking up into the ceiling as if my gaze was trying to look beyond it towards the sky. 

I felt that I wasn't ready for this at all. Because quite honestly, we both were not. We were planning (and all our friends know this) that we were supposed to try early next year after we have spent a year together as husband and wife... husband and wife... gosh, I'm still even feeling weird typing that and now it's beyond that and it's now "dad." See?

As i gazed up, what ran into my head were things like I should earn more to support my family now. What else can I do? I need to save and put money aside already for the delivery... and tons more. It was like my mind was racing. 

At first my wife was disappointed at how I reacted but I'm just glad later on that her close friends reinforced that it's just a guy thing to think ahead like that and look more into the future. But I do understand her side as well when she told me to at least enjoy the moment first finding out before thinking but at the same time, I cannot turn off being a man (that would be scary haha) and so I am just happy things got sorted out and she understood where I was also coming from. 

From there, this journey began and the rest will be a 9 month history. Well, actually less than 9 coz we found out when she was more than a month in already so let's see. 

Cy

A Journey Into Fatherhood...

 

I was with a couple of friends last night and the difference between the last time I saw them and last night was that I didn't know I was to be a father then and now I am... as the night progressed, my good friends Patrick and Patty were suggesting that I go and blog about it and write about this new phase in my life. It actually made me think if I should still embark on a new little project like this when I can hardly keep up with my main blog, but when I thought about it more, I realized that some of the things keeping me strong during this first term of my wife's pregnancy were the articles I read of some dads who just poured out their hearts in writing and I must say that I did learn a lot from them and so I realized that it would also be nice to pass on what I learn and experience in the process hoping that it would help future father-to-be's. And with that, I begin this first entry and will post as we go along but since I'm blogging kinda late already, I shall post some stuff to backtrack from the early experiences as well before this blog came to be. 

Enjoy and God bless. To be honest, I'm still in shock that I am gonna be a dad. 

Cy